By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress
When NASA mathmetician Katherine Johnson needed to calculate how astronaut John Glen could safely re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere after his Gemini mission as the first American to orbit the Earth, she didn’t use “new math.”
Johnson used Euler’s Method, first published in 1768. Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler’s method is based on the theory of bending, as applied to structural beams and other structural members under different stresses to the maximum load it can take in the axial (vertical) direction before it bends.
Hardly old enough to merit the, “But, that’s ancient,” retort dramatized in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” but it is old math.
Now, thanks, to a math text, “Principals of Geometry,” published in the early 1800s and donated to the Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, by resident Michelle Maning, perhaps history can repeat itself.
Well, maybe a student might be inspired to apply an old math formula to a project in a modern math or history class.
“It is fragile,” Manning said. “I can’t find [the printing date], it’s missing a few of the front pages, but the illustrations say 1813 – ‘Aug. 12, 1813. J. Taylor, 50 High St., Hillburn, London.’”
Manning’s stepfather, Joseph P. Deegan was born Jan 6, 1942 to Irish immigrant parents. He grew up in a brownstone on Broadway in South Boston. He was an only child and had little family in America.
Manning got the book from her father, who had been an only child whose mother died when he was 3 and his father died when he was 16. The old woman who lived downstairs in the building where he grew up in South Boston looked out for him until he was of legal age.
Joe joined local 4, the operating engineers union when he was 18 with whom he was a member for 61 years. He worked many years for Shaunessy Crane in Boston and became shop Stuart. In 1968 he purchased his small home in whitman for an astounding 17,000. He lived there happily with his wife Barbara until his death in May of 2021.
“He knew very little of his own family, because there wasn’t anybody here –everybody died so young,” she said.
When her dad died two years ago and she was clearing out the attic, she found the math text.
“It’s full of intricate mathematical drawings and illustrations,” Manning said of the book and surmised that it was owned by an ancestor in Ireland and made the voyage to America with one of his parents. It more than likely belonged to great grandparent or more. “It’s my hope that the book will inspire many students with both its history and lessons.”
“I don’t have any children and I don’t have any family now,” she said. “So, when my time comes, I don’t want anyone giving this to Good Will or worse, throwing it away.”
Then she had to take into consideration the condition of the book.
“It’s not in the kind of shape where it can be curated,” she said. “But, I figured I’m an alum here, why not give it to the math department here? I think using some of these illustrations for exercises would be hilarious.”
Math teacher Deborah Caruso said the book is a “really cool” gift and suggested a plaque recognizing the gift and placement in a school display case might be appropriate at the very least.
“I figured I’d chat with my math department and see,” she said. “We have lockable display cases in the hallway.”
She said there could also be some amazing application problems in the book, as well.
“I’ve enjoyed looking through it, but I know you guys might enjoy it more,” Manning said.
“I know the math teachers will be so excited to take a look at it,” Caruso said. “We will find some interesting ways to bring it into the classroom, for sure.”
Not only could classroom exercises be designed on illustrations from the book, there are several students who love math and would be interested in “what it used to be, and how it used to look,” she said.
“You could share it with the history department, too,” Manning said. “Books were so valuable when this was printed. …You had to be a very wealthy person to have a book. It was an art and took a long time.”